Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 10
Ghost Force 969 Field Base, command center, Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 9 days before next New Moon, Morning.
"Hello everyone. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, current leader of the Kirijo Group." Mitsuru said as she introduced herself to the Investigation Team and their members excluding Minato did the same.
"It's been a long time since I last saw you, Mitsuru." Minato calmly said.
"I know. It's surprising that you're still alive right now. In any case, Fuuka Yamagishi and Akihiko are also here."
After a short reunion between the former members of S.E.E.S. that took only five minutes, Fuuka and Akihiko introduced themselves to Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and Yukiko Amagi and after they did so, Enforcer came in and said, "With all that done, where the hell is Minato going to stay for his final year of high school? Until you guys came, he had to stay here on the base."
"Yeah, about that, Akihiko, do I still own any residences in the area?" Mitsuru asked the former boxer.
"Yeah, there's that house near Yasogami High. I don't even know why your father Takeharu even purchased it." Akihiko replied.
"It's probably best not to think about his reasons for buying it."
"In any case, I assume that it's alright if Minato stays there?" Enforcer asked.
"You are correct."
"Good, because there is one other person that just happens to have been a childhood friend of his. She's been with us for past twelve years now and she's currently being discharged from our ranks. Now if you excuse me, I have to deal with some stuff in my office."
Enforcer then left. Meanwhile, in the weapons development lab, Dmitri was busy overseeing the scientists that were carefully studying the properties of the core essences. Tunazu walked in and said to the Russian, "How goes the study of the core essences?"
"It's been slow as hell, Tunazu. The core essences have been trickier than we expected to get any accurate data from them. It's probably going to be a few months before we can even think about how to use these in a weapon." he replied.
Fifty minutes later in the command center, Enforcer was once again standing around with Minato and everyone else present, but now there was an auburn-haired girl standing next to the mercenary. She wore a black uniform jacket and black and white checkered skirt, immediately telling the Investigation Team in a subtle manner that she would be attending Yasogami High since she was wearing the female uniform. "If anyone asks, this person is who I was referring to when I said that she happened to be a childhood friend of Minato Arisato." Enforcer said before he shifted his attention to the girl and then said to her, "Now I know that it's been awhile since you last interacted with civilians, but why don't you introduce yourself?"
The auburn-haired girl nodded in agreement before she then said, "Hello, and who are you people? My name is Minako Kujikawa."
Minato, who was asleep, immediately woke up and inquired, "Kujikawa? Is that really you, Minako?"
"Oh, I didn't recognize you were asleep over there, Minato."
After the Investigation Team plus Akihiko, Mitsuru, and Fuuka had introduced themselves to Minako, Enforcer then said, "Don't worry about where Minako has to stay. I was able to get in contact with the owner of the Marukyu Tofu Shop in town and apparently she was surprised to hear that Minako is alive. Apparently the owner of that place is Miss Kujikawa's grandmother. Dmitri, where are you?"
Wellington came in through another door and said, "Dmitri is currently unavailable. He's overseeing the scientists that are studying the core essences. What do you need, Leader?"
"We need to look at Minako's DNA records and then from there we'll have to take appropriate measures to ensure to make sure that she is kept up-to-date with how things have been going so far in the investigation." Enforcer ordered.
"Understood, commander." Wellington replied as he left. Yu then heard a voice in his head say, "Thou art I and I am thou. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth. Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the World Arcana." while Minato heard, "Thou art I and I am thou. Thou hast rediscovered old bonds. Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create Personae of the Empress and Priestess Arcana."
The TV world, Monday, April 25th, 8 days before next New Moon, morning.
Sakahagi continued to run, aware that he was being pursued by something. He stopped after assessing the situation and then decided to attack whatever was following him, and he ended up completely butchering a Selfish Basalt. After he was done, he calmly walked away from the dead Shadow, his eyesight not even affected by the fog.
Back in the real world, specifically a third-year classroom at Yasogami High School, Minako was standing in front of the students of class 3-A as she was introduced to the other students by none other than Noriko Kashiwagi. After she was done speaking, Minako looked around for an empty seat and found one right next to a desk that was occupied by Minato. The other students immediately started chatting with each other as soon as she sat down.
"Right now wouldn't be a good time to try to flirt with me. Honestly, you have been out of my life for so long that I have completely forgotten how you are grade-wise in school. That, and I might have an anxiety attack sometime down the road as a result of my soul having been cooped up in some seal for two years." Minato whispered to her.
"I'm typically a straight-A student from what I could remember from before I was enlisted in the mercenaries." She whispered back.
"Alright. Now the seat ahead of me was not occupied, but that is because the person who sits there, Saki Konishi, had her soul eaten by Shadows. More details after school at the Junes food court."
Once school was over, Yu sent out a text message to the members of the Investigation Team that there wouldn't be a trip into the TV world for quite some time since Yukiko was still recovering and ended up receiving a text from Minato stating that he was simply gathering a meeting at the food court to assess the current situation. Yu then replied that he was going to join one of the culture clubs at school and Minato gave him directions as to where the Drama Club and Music Club met. Once everyone else was at the food court, Minato and Yosuke went over the current situation and caught up Minako with what had already happened.
"Interesting. It matches up with the Intelligence that the 969 have been gathering." Minako said.
"What can we expect? There really hasn't been any Shadow activity on this side, but that's because Shadow activity seems to fluctuate with the phases of the moon." Minato replied before continuing, "For some odd reason, the first two victims of the serial murder case were female. Saki had been pushed into the TV World, but the Mercenaries got here out of there before the fog lifted, which may have prevented her from dying since according to Teddie, the Shadows in the TV World get aggressive whenever the fog lifts."
After a while, the meeting was called off and people started leaving. When Minato was about to exit the department store, Minako said for him to wait up and he did. When she got to him, she now carried a bag that Minato assumed had clothing inside.
"I guess you went shopping for clothes when the meeting ended." Minato said to her.
"Yep. Also, Minato, who do you think you'll end up with?"
Minato blushed slightly and answered, "I guess I'll probably end up being with you. I don't know Chie or Yukiko well enough and from what information I could gather online, Rise Kujikawa is currently touring around Japan right now."
Minako then set her bags down and walked up to Minato and said to him flirtatiously, "I like honest answers. We know each other quite well, so do you want to start dating with me?"
"Sure. It will definitely help."
Minako then picked up her bags and walked with him to the Samegawa Flood Plain after she dropped her bags off at her house. Once at the flood plain, she grabbed Minato's right hand and pressed it against her breasts after she made sure that no one was watching. She then said, "I think we'll get along as lovers. Thank you for accepting to date me." as Minato blushed from embarrassment.
The two of them then left the Samegawa Flood Plain holding their hands together. As they did so, Minato heard a voice in his head say, "Thou art I and I am Thou. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth. Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the World Arcana."
A/N: There are differences between Minako Kujikawa and Hamuko Arisato, but it mostly sticks to their personalities.
Minako is quite flirty and isn't afraid to overtly tease guys sexually. This is something that is implied to be hereditary since Rise is also flirty when around Yu/Souji, but not as blatant. Minako is also somewhat perverted and she does not mind if a guy peeps on her while bathing, tries to peek up her skirt, or does other perverted activities so long as it is Minato who does it. Anyone else will get slapped.
Hamuko is more protective of her friends despite not having appeared yet, and she is slightly more impulsive and cheerful than her brother.
Yes, Hamuko and Minako are separate characters in this story. Now Hamuko wasn't caught in the car crash that killed Minato's parents due to her being in the hospital for a broken arm. After the doctors learned about the accident, she was put into the care of the Kirijo Group and sent to Inaba, where she's been quietly living a normal life.
You might be wondering why Minato has Social Links being rediscovered, but that's simple. He's rediscovering the bonds of friendship that he established during the events of Persona 3 and when I get to a good point, Aegis (I'm using the Japanese version of Aigis's name) will meet with Minato and he'll get his Wild Card ability back. He'll still be using Neo Orpheus frequently.